Mice lacking the murine interleukin-8 receptor homologue demonstrate paradoxical responses to acute and chronic experimental infection with Listeria monocytogenes.

In this study we demonstrate that mice which lack the murine interleukin-8 receptor homologue exhibit enhanced resistance during the early stage of infection (1-4 days after i.v. challenge with Listeria monocytogenes). This result is surprising in that interleukin-8 and other CXC chemokines are key players in the accumulation of inflammatory neutrophils, which is thought to be critical for resistance to listeriosis. Paradoxically, some of the interleukin-8 receptor knockout mice that survived acute infection with L. monocytogenes demonstrated evidence of chronic infection with L. monocytogenes.